Arne Slot has said he is having to raise his game because the standard running through the Premier League from top to bottom is so high. The Dutchman has led Liverpool to the summit after 11 games and quickly realised the step up in quality from the Eredivisie.
On Sunday Liverpool travel to bottom-of-the-table Southampton, where Slot is not expecting a walkover, as he believes any team in the division can defeat any other. Despite Southampton winning once this season, Slot praised Russell Martin for sticking to his principles of possession-based football.
“The biggest difference is that all the 17 other managers [in the Eredivisie], they have gameplans and style of play and all kind of great ideas, but the quality difference between the two clubs [AZ and Feyenoord] I worked for and the teams we faced was so big that you can come up with every brilliant gameplan but it doesn’t work because there is so much quality difference,” Slot said.
“Southampton and all these teams have players that can play for big clubs. If you have a good gameplan and a good playing style, it can really work against us or against Manchester City or against Arsenal. That’s what makes it more testing, the quality of the players especially. As a result of that, gameplans work better for these managers than for the 16, 17, 18 of the Eredivisie.”
Martin’s methods have been criticised but the former Scotland defender is unwilling to compromise despite the poor results. Southampton are the lowest scorers in the league with seven goals from 11 matches. In their most recent defeat, 2-0 at Wolves, Southampton had 72% possession but failed to get a shot on target.
“If you’re a manager, you have to believe in something and you have to stick to that plan,” Slot said. “Russell has his own style and he believes in it. There is no one that knows for sure that if he or the club wants to change the playing style, that that would lead to much more points.
“He brought them back up and he makes it really hard for every team to play against them. Normally, these teams that go up, they need some time to adapt to the new league. If you then have a good idea about football and a good gameplan, then results will come.”
